How Pareto Analysis Can Change Your Life

Pareto analysis for best exam preparation

The name Vilfredo Pareto may or may not be familiar to you, but this Italian economist is responsible for coming up with one of the most powerful concepts referred as Pareto principle or 80/20 rule. In 1900’s he noticed in his yard that different pea plants yielded different amount of peas. When looked closer he realized that 80% of peas came from 20% of pea plants. The consistency of this occurrence sparked Pareto’s curiosity and led him to explore Italy’s economy. He discovered that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population. 80/20 principle and related Pareto analysis came to being.

However, the application of this rule is not limited to the land distribution. It applies to a wide variety of things in life. It is the idea that 20% of causes account for 80% of outcomes. Conversely, according to Pareto analysis 80% of causes are responsible for only 20% of results. This is a very powerful principle. It tells us that we are going to get the highest return on the effort focusing on vital few as opposed to wasting energy on trivial many which have relatively small impact on what we are trying to achieve. Let’s put the rule in context.

We all know that preparing for exams (college, high school, professional certification etc.) is no fun and is always a challenge. There is not enough time to fully digest the material. We have limited span of attention. So how Pareto analysis can help us be more productive in exam preparation? Remember 20% of causes account for 80% of outcomes. In terms of exam preparation this means that focusing on a critical core of the preparation material will yield the best exam achievement. So instead of trying to ingest everything and spread thin on the critical material, it is better to concentrate on the core material which may account for the majority of questions and skim the rest.

Enjoy mingling with 20% of people

Not all the people give us the same joy of socializing. Most of us probably bond better with a handful of people. Spending time with such people tends to be more pleasant and enriching. And then there are other people who we interact with, but these interactions seem shallow and not as meaningful. If you noticed, I applied Pareto analysis to this situation. Interacting with 20% of people gives us 80% of joy and enrichment from human interactions. Hence, in the era of limited time and stress, it may not be a bad idea to spend more time with 20% of people who make us happy and inspire rather than mingling with the people who are negative or offer little social value.

Rethink your workout with Pareto principle

80/20 principle is so powerful that it can improve your health and help you achieve fitness goals quicker by refocus your workout. But before we get to this, do you work out? If you work out keep reading, if not, start working out and come back and read this later. Just kidding. Go on. So assuming you work out, you may know how frustrating it gets when we pursue a workout and do not see results which we expect based on the invested effort. We run and do not lose enough weight. We do crunches but the fat on the belly does not seem to be becoming smaller. The shoulders do not get pumped despite numerous dumbbell lifting. However, lack of results can be avoided by applying Pareto analysis to the workout routine. If crunches do not help becoming ripped than maybe you are doing the wrong crunches. Think about the crunches in terms of Pareto principle: not all crunches are created equal. A handful of crunch varieties will help you achieve the largest gains. For example, according to the researchers at Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University bicycle crunch exercise, captain’s chair exercise and crunch on the exercise ball are the most effective crunch types. Therefore, doing these crunches will help you achieve the best results compared to other crunch types. So this is your 20% which leads to 80% of outcomes. This logic can be applied to any exercise.

Of course applying Pareto analysis to real life situations is not always straightforward. It is often impossible to know what constitutes the 20% which accounts for the majority of outcomes. However keeping in mind that frequently a handful of causes/factors lead to majority of outcomes is a powerful notion. Using this principle can significantly increase your success rate and lead to tangible self-improvement.